100 U.S. Citizenship Test Questions and Their Answers

When applying for citizenship, one of the most intimidating parts of the application process for many applicants is the civics test. The civics test that an applicant takes will be made up of 10 questions taken from a pool of 100. In order to pass the citizenship test, an applicant must correctly answer six of the ten questions they are asked.

Many of the questions and answers on the test remain from year to year. However, the test is updated periodically, and some questions get replaced. Likewise, some answers may change to reflect ongoing changes regarding the United States. Here, you can review the 2008 version of the U.S. citizenship test questions and their correct answers.

Mistakes on your USCIS application forms can lead to rejection, denial, or delay in processing your application. Prepare your application safely and securely using Immigration Direct’s online immigration software to eliminate costly mistakes. Our software provides you with easy-to-understand instructions to prepare and also access to other services to file your application correctly. Get Started Now.

Below are the three categories you can find 100 questions and correct answers for the 2008 version of the civics test.

1. American Government
2. American History
3. Integrated Civics

Note: *If you are 65 years of age or older and have been a green card holder for 20 years or more, you can focus on the questions marked with an asterisk, as you will only be tested on questions from this group.

See Also: Complete Guide about “Citizenship Test & Interview“.

American Government

A: Principles of American Democracy

Question 1: What is the supreme law of the land?

Answer: The Constitution

Question 2: What does the Constitution do?

Answer:

• Sets up the government
• Defines the government
• Protects basic rights of Americans

Question 3: The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?

Answer: We the People

Question 4: What is an amendment?

Answer:

• A change (to the Constitution)
• An addition (to the Constitution)

Question 5: What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?

Answer: The Bill of Rights

*Question 6: What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment?

Answer:

• Speech
• Religion
• Assembly
• Press
• Petition the government

Question 7: How many amendments does the Constitution have?

Answer: Twenty-seven (27)

Question 8: What did the Declaration of Independence do?

Answer:

• Announced our independence (from Great Britain)
• Declared our independence (from Great Britain)
• Said that the United States is free (from Great Britain)

Question 9: What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?

Answer:

• Life
• Liberty
• Pursuit of happiness

Question 10: What is freedom of religion?

Answer: You can practice any religion or not practice a religion

*Question 11: What is the economic system in the United States?

Answer:

• Capitalist economy
• Market economy

Question 12: What is the “rule of law?”

Answer:

• Everyone must follow the law
• Leaders must obey the law
• Government must obey the law
• No one is above the law

B: System of Government

*Question 13: Name one branch or part of the government.

Answer:

• Congress
• Legislative
• President
• Executive
• The courts
• Judicial

Question 14: What stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful?

Answer:

• Checks and balances
• Separation of powers

Question 15: Who is in charge of the executive branch?

Answer: The President

Question 16: Who makes federal laws?

Answer:

• Congress
• Senate and House (of Representatives)
• (U.S. or national) legislature

*Question 17: What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?

Answer: The Senate and House (of Representatives)

Question 18: How many U.S. Senators are there?

Answer: One hundred (100)

Question 19: We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years?

Answer: Six (6)

*Question 20: Who is one of your state’s U.S. Senators now?

Answer: Answers will vary depending on the state in which you live. [District of Columbia residents and residents of U.S. territories should answer that D.C. (or the territory where the applicant lives) has no U.S. Senators.]

Question 21: The House of Representatives has how many voting members?

Answer: Four hundred thirty-five (435)

Question 22: We elect a U.S. Representative for how many years?

Answer: Two (2)

Question 23: Name your U.S. Representative.

Answer: Answers will vary depending on the district in which you live. [Residents of territories with nonvoting Delegates or Resident Commissioners may provide the name of that Delegate or Commissioner. Also acceptable is any statement that the territory has no (voting) Representatives in Congress.]

Question 24: Who does a U.S. Senator represent?

Answer: All people of the state

Question 25: Why do some states have more Representatives than other states?

Answer:

• (Because of) the state’s population
• (Because) they have more people
• (Because) some states have more people

Question 26: We elect a President for how many years?

Answer: Four (4)

*Question 27: In what month do we vote for President?

Answer: November

*Question 28: What is the name of the President of the United States now?

Answer: Visit uscis.gov/citizenship/testupdates for the name of the current President of the United States

Question 29: What is the name of the Vice President of the United States now?

Answer: Visit uscis.gov/citizenship/testupdates for the name of the current Vice President of the United States

Question 30: If the President can no longer serve, who becomes President?

Answer: The Vice President

Question 31: If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?

Answer: the Speaker of the House

Question 32: Who is the Commander in Chief of the military?

Answer: The President

Question 33: Who signs bills to become laws?

Answer: The President

Question 34: Who vetoes bills?

Answer: The President

Question 35: What does the President’s Cabinet do?

Answer: Advises the President

Question 36: What are two Cabinet-level positions?

Answer:

• Secretary of Agriculture
• Secretary of Commerce
• Secretary of Defense
• Secretary of Education
• Secretary of Energy
• Secretary of Health and Human Services
• Secretary of Homeland Security
• Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
• Secretary of the Interior
• Secretary of Labor
• Secretary of State
• Secretary of Transportation
• Secretary of the Treasury
• Secretary of Veterans Affairs
• Attorney General
• Vice President

Question 37: What does the judicial branch do?

Answer:

• Reviews laws
• Explains laws
• Resolves disputes (disagreements)
• Decides if a law goes against the Constitution

Question 38: What is the highest court in the United States?

Answer: The Supreme Court

Question 39: How many justices are on the Supreme Court?

Answer: Visit uscis.gov/citizenship/testupdates for the current number of justices on the Supreme Court

Question 40: Who is the Chief Justice of the United States now?

Answer: Visit uscis.gov/citizenship/testupdates for the name of the Chief Justice of the United States.

Question 41: Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government?

Answer:

• To print money
• To declare war
• To create an army
• To make treaties

Question 42: Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states. What is one power of the states?

Answer:

• To provide schooling and education
• To provide protection (police)
• To provide safety (fire departments)
• To give a driver’s license
• To approve zoning and land use

Question 43: Who is the Governor of your state now?

Answer: Answers will vary depending on where you live. [District of Columbia residents should answer that D.C. does not have a Governor.]

*Question 44: What is the capital of your state?

Answer: Answers will vary depending on where you live. [District of Columbia residents should answer that D.C. is not a state and does not have a capital. Residents of U.S. territories should name the capital of the territory.]

*Question 45: What are the two major political parties in the United States?

Answer: Democratic and Republican

Question 46: What is the political party of the President now?

Answer: Visit uscis.gov/citizenship/testupdates for the political party of the current President.

Question 47: What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now?

Answer: Visit uscis.gov/citizenship/testupdates for the name of the current Speaker of the House of Representatives.

C: Rights and Responsibilities

Question 48: There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.

Answer:

• Citizens eighteen (18) and older (can vote)
• You don’t have to pay (a poll tax) to vote
• Any citizen can vote (Women and men can vote)
• A male citizen of any race (can vote)

*Question 49: What is one responsibility that is only for United States citizens?

Answer:

• Serve on a jury
• Vote in a federal election

Question 50: Name one right only for United States citizens.

Answer:

• Vote in a federal election
• Run for federal office

Question 51: What are two rights of everyone living in the United States?

Answer:

• Freedom of expression
• Freedom of speech
• Freedom of assembly
• Freedom to petition the government
• Freedom of religion
• The right to bear arms

Question 52: What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?

Answer:

• The United States
• The flag

Question 53: What is one promise you make when you become a United States citizen?

Answer:

• Give up loyalty to other countries
• Defend the Constitution and laws of the United States
• Obey the laws of the United States
• Serve in the US military (if needed)
• Serve (do important work for) the nation (if needed)
• Be loyal to the United States

*Question 54: How old do citizens have to be to vote for President?

Answer: Eighteen (18) and older

Question 55: What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?

Answer:

• Vote
• Join a political party
• Help with a campaign
• Join a civic group
• Join a community group
• Give an elected official your opinion on an issue
• Call Senators and Representatives
• Publicly support or oppose an issue or policy
• Run for office
• Write to a newspaper

*Question 56: When is the last day you can send in federal income tax forms?

Answer: April 15

Question 57: When must all men register for the Selective Service?

Answer:

• At age eighteen (18)
• Between eighteen (18) and twenty-six (26)

American History

A: Colonial Period and Independence

Question 58: What is one reason colonists came to America?

Answer:

• Freedom
• Political liberty
• Religious freedom
• Economic opportunity
• Practice their religion
• Escape persecution

Question 59: Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?

Answer:

• American Indians
• Native Americans

Question 60: What group of people was taken to America and sold as slaves?

Answer:

• Africans
• People from Africa

Question 61: Why did the colonists fight the British?

Answer:

• Because of high taxes (taxation without representation)
• Because the British army stayed in their houses (boarding, quartering)
• Because they didn’t have self-government

Question 62: Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?

Answer: (Thomas) Jefferson

Question 63: When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?

Answer: July 4, 1776

Question 64: There were 13 original states. Name three.

Answer:

• New Hampshire
• Massachusetts
• Rhode Island
• Connecticut
• New York
• New Jersey
• Pennsylvania
• Delaware
• Maryland
• Virginia
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Georgia

Question 65: What happened at the Constitutional Convention?

Answer:

• The Constitution was written
• The Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution

Question 66: When was the Constitution written?

Answer: 1787

Question 67: The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.

Answer:

• (James) Madison
• (Alexander) Hamilton
• (John) Jay
• Publius

Question 68: What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for?

Answer:

• U.S. diplomat
• Oldest member of the Constitutional Convention
• First Postmaster General of the United States
• Writer of “Poor Richard’s Almanac”
• Started the first free libraries

Question 69: Who is the “Father of Our Country”?

Answer: (George) Washington

*Question 70: Who was the first President?

Answer: (George) Washington

B: 1800s

Question 71: What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?

Answer:

• The Louisiana Territory
• Louisiana

Question 72: Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.

Answer:

• War of 1812
• Mexican-American War
• Civil War
• Spanish-American War

Question 73: Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.

Answer:

• The Civil War
• The War between the States

Question 74: Name one problem that led to the Civil War.

Answer:

• Slavery
• Economic reasons
• States’ rights

*Question 75: What was one important thing that Abraham Lincoln did?

Answer:

• Freed the slaves (Emancipation Proclamation)
• Saved (or preserved) the Union
• Led the United States during the Civil War

Question 76: What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?

Answer:

• Freed the slaves
• Freed slaves in the Confederacy
• Freed slaves in the Confederate states
• Freed slaves in most Southern states

Question 77: What did Susan B. Anthony do?

Answer:

• Fought for women’s rights
• Fought for civil rights

C: Recent American History and Other Important Historical Information

*Question 78: Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s.

Answer:

• World War I
• World War II
• Korean War
• Vietnam War
• (Persian) Gulf War

Question 79: Who was President during World War I?

Answer: (Woodrow) Wilson

Question 80: Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II?

Answer: (Franklin) Roosevelt

Question 81: Who did the United States fight in World War II?

Answer: Japan, Germany, and Italy

Question 82: Before he was President, Eisenhower was a general. What war was he in?

Answer: World War II

Question 83: During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?

Answer: Communism

Question 84: What movement tried to end racial discrimination?

Answer: Civil rights (movement)

*Question 85: What did Martin Luther King, Jr. do?

Answer:

• Fought for civil rights
• Worked for equality for all Americans

Question 86: What major event happened on September 11, 2001, in the United States?

Answer: Terrorists attacked the United States

Question 87: Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.

Answer:

• Cherokee
• Navajo
• Sioux
• Chippewa
• Choctaw
• Pueblo
• Apache
• Iroquois
• Creek
• Blackfeet
• Seminole
• Cheyenne
• Arawak
• Shawnee
• Mohegan
• Huron
• Oneida
• Lakota
• Crow
• Teton
• Hopi
• Inuit

Integrated Civics

A: Geography

Question 88: Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.

Answer:

• Missouri (River)
• Mississippi (River)

Question 89: What ocean is on the West Coast of the United States?

Answer: Pacific (Ocean)

Question 90: What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States?

Answer: Atlantic (Ocean)

Question 91: Name one U.S. territory.

Answer:

• Puerto Rico
• U.S. Virgin Islands
• American Samoa
• Northern Mariana Islands
• Guam

Question 92: Name one state that borders Canada.

Answer:

• Maine
• New Hampshire
• Vermont
• New York
• Pennsylvania
• Ohio
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• North Dakota
• Montana
• Idaho
• Washington
• Alaska

Question 93: Name one state that borders Mexico.

Answer:

• California
• Arizona
• New Mexico
• Texas

*Question 94: What is the capital of the United States?

Answer: Washington, D.C.

*Question 95: Where is the Statue of Liberty?

Answer:

• New York (Harbor)
• Liberty Island

[Also acceptable are New Jersey, near New York City, and on the Hudson (River).]

B: Symbols

Question 96: Why does the flag have 13 stripes?

Answer:

• Because there were 13 original colonies
• Because the stripes represent the original colonies

*Question 97: Why does the flag have 50 stars?

Answer:

• Because there is one star for each state
• Because each star represents a state
• Because there are 50 states

Question 98: What is the name of the national anthem?

Answer: The Star-Spangled Banner

C: Holidays

*Question 99: When do we celebrate Independence Day?

Answer: July 4

Question 100: Name two national U.S. holidays.

Answer:

• New Year’s Day
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• Presidents’ Day
• Memorial Day
• Juneteenth (added in 2021)
• Independence Day
• Labor Day
• Columbus Day
• Veterans Day
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas

Note that some of the above citizenship test questions have additional answers beyond those listed. However, the answers here are the ones that the USCIS officer who administers your test will be looking for from you.

10 Hardest Citizenship Questions

Out of the above 100 questions, the ones listed below questions are the hardest questions in the citizenship test. The questions below are not in an order, but these are the hardest questions.

Question #1: The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.

Question #2: When was the Constitution written?

Question #3: How many amendments does the Constitution have?

Question #4: The House of Representatives has how many voting members?

Question #5: What is the count of justices on the Supreme Court?

Question #6: Currently, who serves as Chief Justice of the United States?

Question #7: What does “rule of law” mean?

Question #8: Who was President during World War I?

Question #9: During the Great Depression and World War II, who served as President?

Question #10: Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States?

You can find the answers for the above 10 hardest questions at USCIS Test Updates.

Take the Citizenship Test

Applicants for citizenship who fail the test twice must begin the application process anew and pay a filing fee once again. After their first interview, if they are unsuccessful, they are given a window of 60-90 days in which to retake the exam at a subsequent interview.